A good friend of mines story. He posted this on my website Milsimevent.com and I thought I would share the story.

Most veteran airsofters are already aware of the fact that the KWA "G Series" gas airsoft pistols are currently no longer being manufactured, or available for purchase new in the US. Some airsofters were fortunate enough to grab onto one of these pistols before the Glock Lawsuit settlement was previously handed down; for many others their only alternative is to go about searching high and low for one to buy in used condition, only to find that often they will demand a cost elevated beyond that of many other brand new gas airsoft replica handguns based off of alternate designs & models.

As a retired US Army Special Forces operative, I have been fortunate during my years of service to witness first hand the trustworthiness & reliability of the "Glock" handgun design.
I have personally observed the remarkable operating resilience of the 9mm Glock model 17, during US ARMY torture testing which involved submersion of the pistols in mud, water, and sand for weeks at a time. While then removing the pistols from submersion without cleaning, and firing over 5,000 rounds in the absence of ever experiencing a single jam, or operational malfunction.
With that said; the testimony that I am about to present here in this thread is an attestiment that the resiliance of the "Glock" design has also carried over into that of it's little brother, the KWA replica airsoft gas pistol.

Back in the mid summer of 2009 after a year of record rainfall amounts within the state of Arkansas, as a result
it was near impossible at the time to find an airsoft field that was free from partial water submersion. One of our central AR fields "Fort Boneyard" located near Ward was no exception to that fact. Where it was during a late Saturday morning of milsim airsoft when one of our own Airsoft Outlaws Tim AKA "Stryker", suddenly realized that his beloved KWA Gas Glock 19 pistol was no longer taking residence in the front of his cross draw tactical vest. Several members of our team spent a considerable amount of time after the match, combing the grounds at Ft Boneyard in hopes of the slight chance at recovering the Missing In Action pistol. Unfortuantely; contrary to our many efforts, the pistol was not recovered on that tragic day.
Who could have ever known that a near 16 months later, while during a recent Op at Ft Boneyard, one of our many honorable players happened onto a heavily soiled, partially rusted Glock 19 pistol, which appeared to have been resting in the reminants of a dried up muddy sink hole. A sudden moment of joyous disbelief to so many of us; as undeniably it was no doubt Stryker's MIA KWA M19.

Being that I am one of the only locally liscensed gunsmiths that also shares his work bench with that of replica airsoft guns as well, I was commisioned by the guns' owner Tim; to make an attempt at performing some BushMan TLC, and salvaging what at the time appeared to be a most highly probable loss.

The Resurrection of Stryker's KWA-19
As it so happens when I returned home with the pistol from the field on that Saturday, it was the same evening as our annual team banquet dinner. So I merely placed the pistol on my workbench and then departed for the banquet.
While back at home later that night, the little voice kept crying out in my head, as I could not stop thinking about all that rust, mud, and crime on that helpless pistol that had made the journey back home with me earlier in the day. So knowing that I would not sleep a wink otherwise, I then made my way back out to my workbench to begin the lengthy process of the endeavorment that lay ahead.
As it was quite late, I never really put any pre-thought into documenting by video what was about to transpire, but what soon followed gave me great hope to a favorable outcome, as I experienced that of one in the making of what could become that of airsoft myth & legend; to say the least.
Upon my initial inspection I noticed that there was a BB lodged in a ring of dried mud at the end of the muzzle on the inner barrel.
Unbenunced to myself at the time the player who had initially stumbled onto the gun had actually fired the pistol thus creating the muzzle jam that I had now discoverd. While wanting to avoid any unecessary scarring on the bore itself by forcing the jammed BB back down the bore, I was also curious if the magazine still contained any gas, and if the gun itself would in fact function in its badly tattered condition. So I proceeded to then test fire the pistol.
To my very own amazement, the gun fired while also fully cycling the slide, and as a result had cleared the previously lodged BB from the muzzle tip. At that point I was near ecstatic, and proceeded to again fire the pistol. Although; there was what seemed to be an endless supply of dried mud and dust being explelled from every opening on the gun, the badly soiled & rusted KWA fired a total of 21 consecutive shots, while emptying the entire magazine, and none the less, it never jamed, or mis- fed, not even once!

The internal steel components of the gun were all quite corroded, containg approximately a 1/64"-1/32" layer of rust, however; pitting of the actual surfaces was minimal and easily repaired once all the metal components spent an overnight bath in some firearms solvent.

Once all the parts had been cleaned, emried, dried and re-blued, she started to look like her old self again.

Since the KWA slide and many other parts are made from aluminum and were painted, and not of blued steel like it's real steel big brother. The KWA's aluminum parts were then all stripped, prepped, and coated with Duracoat black for firearms!

The end result is truely a prized treasure to its owner, as it once was lost, but now is found and is followed by a story to be reminissed upon by friends, as well as; to be heard about by others throughout our sport for years to come!

A good friend of mines story. He posted this on my website Milsimevent.com and I thought I would share the story.

Most veteran airsofters are already aware of the fact that the KWA "G Series" gas airsoft pistols are currently no longer being manufactured, or available for purchase new in the US. Some airsofters were fortunate enough to grab onto one of these pistols before the Glock Lawsuit settlement was previously handed down; for many others their only alternative is to go about searching high and low for one to buy in used condition, only to find that often they will demand a cost elevated beyond that of many other brand new gas airsoft replica handguns based off of alternate designs & models.

As a retired US Army Special Forces operative, I have been fortunate during my years of service to witness first hand the trustworthiness & reliability of the "Glock" handgun design.
I have personally observed the remarkable operating resilience of the 9mm Glock model 17, during US ARMY torture testing which involved submersion of the pistols in mud, water, and sand for weeks at a time. While then removing the pistols from submersion without cleaning, and firing over 5,000 rounds in the absence of ever experiencing a single jam, or operational malfunction.
With that said; the testimony that I am about to present here in this thread is an attestiment that the resiliance of the "Glock" design has also carried over into that of it's little brother, the KWA replica airsoft gas pistol.

Back in the mid summer of 2009 after a year of record rainfall amounts within the state of Arkansas, as a result
it was near impossible at the time to find an airsoft field that was free from partial water submersion. One of our central AR fields "Fort Boneyard" located near Ward was no exception to that fact. Where it was during a late Saturday morning of milsim airsoft when one of our own Airsoft Outlaws Tim AKA "Stryker", suddenly realized that his beloved KWA Gas Glock 19 pistol was no longer taking residence in the front of his cross draw tactical vest. Several members of our team spent a considerable amount of time after the match, combing the grounds at Ft Boneyard in hopes of the slight chance at recovering the Missing In Action pistol. Unfortuantely; contrary to our many efforts, the pistol was not recovered on that tragic day.
Who could have ever known that a near 16 months later, while during a recent Op at Ft Boneyard, one of our many honorable players happened onto a heavily soiled, partially rusted Glock 19 pistol, which appeared to have been resting in the reminants of a dried up muddy sink hole. A sudden moment of joyous disbelief to so many of us; as undeniably it was no doubt Stryker's MIA KWA M19.

Being that I am one of the only locally liscensed gunsmiths that also shares his work bench with that of replica airsoft guns as well, I was commisioned by the guns' owner Tim; to make an attempt at performing some BushMan TLC, and salvaging what at the time appeared to be a most highly probable loss.

The Resurrection of Stryker's KWA-19
As it so happens when I returned home with the pistol from the field on that Saturday, it was the same evening as our annual team banquet dinner. So I merely placed the pistol on my workbench and then departed for the banquet.
While back at home later that night, the little voice kept crying out in my head, as I could not stop thinking about all that rust, mud, and crime on that helpless pistol that had made the journey back home with me earlier in the day. So knowing that I would not sleep a wink otherwise, I then made my way back out to my workbench to begin the lengthy process of the endeavorment that lay ahead.
As it was quite late, I never really put any pre-thought into documenting by video what was about to transpire, but what soon followed gave me great hope to a favorable outcome, as I experienced that of one in the making of what could become that of airsoft myth & legend; to say the least.
Upon my initial inspection I noticed that there was a BB lodged in a ring of dried mud at the end of the muzzle on the inner barrel.
Unbenunced to myself at the time the player who had initially stumbled onto the gun had actually fired the pistol thus creating the muzzle jam that I had now discoverd. While wanting to avoid any unecessary scarring on the bore itself by forcing the jammed BB back down the bore, I was also curious if the magazine still contained any gas, and if the gun itself would in fact function in its badly tattered condition. So I proceeded to then test fire the pistol.
To my very own amazement, the gun fired while also fully cycling the slide, and as a result had cleared the previously lodged BB from the muzzle tip. At that point I was near ecstatic, and proceeded to again fire the pistol. Although; there was what seemed to be an endless supply of dried mud and dust being explelled from every opening on the gun, the badly soiled & rusted KWA fired a total of 21 consecutive shots, while emptying the entire magazine, and none the less, it never jamed, or mis- fed, not even once!

The internal steel components of the gun were all quite corroded, containg approximately a 1/64"-1/32" layer of rust, however; pitting of the actual surfaces was minimal and easily repaired once all the metal components spent an overnight bath in some firearms solvent.

Once all the parts had been cleaned, emried, dried and re-blued, she started to look like her old self again.

Since the KWA slide and many other parts are made from aluminum and were painted, and not of blued steel like it's real steel big brother. The KWA's aluminum parts were then all stripped, prepped, and coated with Duracoat black for firearms!

The end result is truely a prized treasure to its owner, as it once was lost, but now is found and is followed by a story to be reminissed upon by friends, as well as; to be heard about by others throughout our sport for years to come!

Wow, I have a *17 that I bought about 5 years ago popped off about 50-60 rds and it sat up in the closet until this year. Since I really gotten back into shooting my real weapons I've been on the airsoft guns as well. I just signed up here yesterday and did not know about the Glock vs Kwa lawsuit until I did some reading before my first post. However I'm sure glad I own the prized *17. As for this resurrection story who would have thought an airsoft gun would be so tough? As you said the design speaks for itself it just works! Even in the airsoft world. That was a great story and an outstanding restoration job you did. I'm sure the owner was overjoyed.

I want one
and if your part of NTA (North Texas Airsoft) theres a man (a very good man) who buys and fixes up KWA/KSC M series and sells them in great condition. this story has confirmed it. I'm getting one.

There's something rather personal about the M series.
Anyone who likes them loves them, and KWA doesn't dissappoint.

My own M26C stayed with me for four years and survived my ignorance of maintenance. I didn't clean it and its been through mulch and whatever you can find on a paintball field (that opens to airsofters).

I only had to send in little Kita/Kaida twice - once when I bought her, and once when her slide wore out.
It took four years of hard playing at least twice a month to do that, all in the hands of an aggressive newbie-player, one quite young -despite writing like an English Lit- and they could no longer be made.

It's only by sheer luck that I found a brand new one that had gathered dust in the back of a curiosity store - the plastic grip still bites like it just came off a machine, though the box is a little faded. After firing it just once, I'm more than satisified that it's authentic.
I know that explosive kick anywhere, and have handled cheap knock offs.

I'm planning to treasure both.

Thanks for posting an amazing story - Bushman does great work, and writes like an artist or gifted horse trainer - I think I just might send him my gear to look at/work on any day.

I want one
and if your part of NTA (North Texas Airsoft) theres a man (a very good man) who buys and fixes up KWA/KSC M series and sells them in great condition. this story has confirmed it. I'm getting one.